A shred of decency
by Sanderson97
Summary: A mob has left Naruto at the mercy of the kyuubi, what will he do now that his prison is between his paws?
1. awakening

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, sadly, else I wouldn't be writing this.

"Naruto": Human dialogue

' _Naruto_ ': Human thought

" **Naruto"** : Bijuu dialogue

' _ **Naruto**_ **'** : Bijuu thought

This is the first story I've ever written so it would be great to hear people's opinions to make it better.

It was a calm, clear night over Hi no Kuni, one would think that such a night would bring with it peace and tranquillity. However, if you were to be present in the village hidden in the leaves: Konohagakure, you would find a small boy, no older than six, running through the streets as if the Shinigami were on his heels.

He was rather small for his age, with blond spikey hair and six whisker marks upon his face. He was wearing a white t-shirt with the symbol of a flame on the front and black track pants with orange strips on the side. Ha had a wild look in eyes, one that could be likened to a caged animal, looking left and right for a possible escape route where none existed. He knew that he was tiring, his legs were burning from overuse, the little energy he had left, dissipating far quicker than he had hoped.

Running behind him was the reason of his distress: a mob, not one of the biggest that he had seen but most definitely one of the most determined. As he tried to turn a corner, a few loose stones beneath his foot gave way and caused him, to his great horror, to lose his balance and stumble. It wasn't much but it was long enough for the vengeful crowd to fall on him like a pack of wolves.

And that's when it began….

The child had grown used to beatings, along with the glares, the overpriced shops and the loneliness, it was a constant in his life that had not changed in his living memory. What he still couldn't understand was why? Why was he always hurt? Why did no-one ever help him other than the ANBU? Why was he the subject of so much hatred? He had been tortured for so long by these questions that no one would ever answer, they would just turn away with a sneer and a mutter about some kind of law from the Hokage.

The blows kept coming, fists, feet, knees, even a few heads. All with the intent to cause him as much pain as possible. He cried out again and again, but they wouldn't stop. If anything it encouraged them even more. As he felt the by then familiar bliss of unconsciousness descending upon him, you could hear him sing quietly to himself

"Happy Birthday to me…."

 **Hokage's Office**

Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong. I had kept nagging at him for the whole evening, he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Suddenly, an ANBU appeared behind him

"Hokage-Sama, you must come quickly, it's the Jinchurikii"

And it came to him

' _Naruto, I completely forgot what day it was with all the paperwork. He was probably coming to see me.'_

As he jumped out of the window with his ANBU guard, he travelled with such speed he started to distance himself from them. As he ran, he noticed that there was a large crowd shouting and jeering at something on the ground…. Or someone.

His heart ached as he approached them and the state child on the ground became clearer.

' _Kami-Sama, what have they done to you?'_ He thought.

As they saw him approach, the crowd began to disperse and flee, they knew how attached their leader was to the demon brat.

When the Hokage reached the child, he knelt next to him and cradled him in his arms. As tears started spilling from his eyes, he ordered with a voice so broken it surprised even the most experienced ANBU,

"Bring those that did this to Ibiki, all of them, he has free reign to make them pay but keep them alive."

As the ANBU dispersed to carry out his orders, he picked up the blond-haired child and made his way to Konoha Hospital. As he entered the main hall, he noticed all the doctors that were present do everything they could to avoid looking at his charge and merely pass him by. But then heard a panicked voice behind him.

"Hokage-Sama, let me look at him, this looks very serious!"

He turned around to an elderly senior surgeon that he remembered had always seemed kind the bundle in his arms in the past. So, he gave him the child to look after. He followed him (Takumi as he heard from the other doctors) to a room away from many the rest, as if it were quarantined.

Takumi laid the child down on the bed and checked all his wounds, only to notice that they were already starting to heal, thanks to his 'tenant' no doubt. He turned to his Hokage and stated

"He'll be fine, but it was extremely close this time, we'll keep him here tonight, and as it's him, he should be good to leave by tomorrow morning."

He turned around to give his patient on last look

"I'll give you some time with him".

Sarutobi approached the bed and laid a hand on the child's arm.

"I want a guard that can be trusted placed on watch, if anyone wanting to harm him gets in, he'll be sent to Ibiki along with the intruder."

"Hai, Hokage-Sama"

replied the ANBU captain that had accompanied the Hokage on the way. The elderly leader turned away from the bed and walked to the door, stopping at the entrance, he turned around.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Naruto"

And with that, he closed the door behind him. He didn't notice the seal that was on Naruto's stomach become visible and give a minuscule pulse of Chakra.

In a dark, damp sewer where one could practically feel the weight of energy that rolled off a gigantic fox behind some giant bars, a singular crimson eye opened.


	2. encounter

**Hey Everyone, I got really encouraging support for the first chapter that I uploaded and as I'm on a long journey that has me bored to tears, I decided to write the second chapter of what I hope to be a great story.**

 **I tried to make this chapter a bit longer to let the whole thing pick up and give you guys more to read. Enjoy**

 **Disclaimer alert: once again, I do not own Naruto.**

"Naruto" Human Dialogue

' _Naruto'_ Human Thought

" **Naruto"** Bijuu Dialogue

' _ **Naruto'**_ Bijuu Thought

Naruto awoke to find himself in a dimly lit corridor, he quickly realised that he was lying in water and endeavoured to get back on his feet as fast as possible. Once he was standing, he felt that the water only reached up to his ankles but it felt filthy.

' _So, how did I end up in a sewer?'_ He thought to himself.

As he looked around him, he wondered to himself which direction he should go towards. Both appeared to be the same, with lamps barely lighting the walls on either side of the passageways. From what he could gather, the walls were made of stone, had a beige quality to them and had parallel lines engraved into them, all in all, there was nothing that would help him get out, no symbols, nothing.

And that's when he heard it: a deep rumble that he originally thought was the wind seemed to actually be some sort of breathing coming from the way he had woken up facing. The blond six-year-old carefully made his way towards the sound as he knew nothing about where he was and was starting to panic. His breath became increasingly laboured as he realised while he was walking that the breathing was far too loud and deep to be human. He started to worry much more, as his already hyperactive imagination began creating increasingly horrifying ways that this encounter could end in.

The first thing Naruto noticed as he entered the room at the end of the corridor was that a weight seemed to have settled on his limbs, he started moving sluggishly and the resistance of the water did not help matters. His first impressions of the room he was now in was that it was just as badly lit as the rest, a whole portion on the opposite side of the room was completely obscured, it was also the area he felt the weight upon him come from, which did not help his already badly frayed nerves.

He slowly made his way to the obscured part of the room and found that what had just been beyond his vision a few steps back were in fact a large set of bars that formed what resembled a gate, with a piece of paper with what looked like writing halfway up. Suddenly, Naruto saw some movement behind the gate, however that was not what scared him, what did terrify him was the sheer size of what appeared to be moving. It seemed to at least reach the level of the piece of paper on the gate. Slowly, a red eye opened and stared at him and then, he heard a deep, rumbling voice that seemed to contain the power of earthquakes speak:

" **So, my jailor finally deigns to pay me a visit, although I must admit I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."**

Naruto was confused: why did this creature seem to know him?

"U…ummm, I'm sorry, do I know you?"

The giant eye closed for a few seconds before opening again, giving the impression that the giant thing had just blinked at him.

" **Never matter, come here child, come close to me"**

For a brief second, the phrase: "My what a big eye you have" entered Naruto's mind but he knew better than to blurt out a potentially insulting sentence to a giant, extremely dangerous looking… thing.

He slowly made his way towards the giant gate but before he could get too close, the sixth sense he had developed from escaping mobs began screaming at him to run, when it saw that the blond child was hesitating, the eye suddenly narrowed and before Naruto could so much as scream, a giant claw was suddenly six inches from his eyes, the only reason it didn't go further being the gate that held against the considerable force of the large piece of keratin that had tempted to eviscerate him.

" **Hmmm, damn this seal. Oh, how I would love to have you at my mercy, I promise you your death would be quick, come here insect."**

Scrambling away so as to keep out of the reach of the decidedly unfriendly creature, Naruto took a moment to calm down recollect from yet another near death experience.

' _I've been having way too many of those recently'_

As he continued to observe the creature in front of him, he asked:

"What are you?"

The eye turned itself back towards the child, giving him full view of the malice hidden behind that singular crimson orb.

" **You are not worthy of knowing WHO I am, how dare an insect such as yourself demand anything of me, an immortal? I have had enough of your presence, be gone from my sight."**

And with that, Naruto felt the oppressive force he had been feeling since entering the room push him forcefully out of the room, the corridor and the sewer and back into the real world. The last thing he saw was what looked like several tails swishing behind the creature.

The first thing he heard were the usual sounds you would hear at a hospital: people bustling around and sounds from the health monitors. As he opened his eyes, the first thing, well person he saw was arguably his favourite person in all the world, his jiji, the old man Hokage.

"Naruto, how are you doing? You had us worried for a moment back there" He said with the kindly smile that the blond child adored so much.

"I'm fine jiji, never better he he" He responded with his trademark goofy grin.

"Well that's good"

"Jiji, when will I be able to leave?" Naruto asked as he looked around him as if ready to spring and run at any time.

"The doctor said that you were clear to go when you woke up."

As soon as he heard that, Naruto leaped to his feet and dashed out the door, eager to leave the hospital as soon as possible.

Hiruzen watched him run, chuckling and slowly shaking his head at the boy's antics.

' _That boy will be the death of me, but I wouldn't have it any other way'_

As he ran, Naruto thought about the dream that he had about the creature living in the sewer, the sheer evil that he could feel coming of the being still gave him shivers, it had just felt so _real_ so… oppressive.

As he rounded a corner, ignoring the glares and for some disappointed looks, he literally ran into the hokage who had caught up to him and was waiting for him.

Before he could fall, he felt the arms of his jiji wrap around his shoulders and pull him in a comforting embrace.

"How about we visit Ichiraku to celebrate your birthday?"

Naruto stilled and looked up to Hiruzen, eyes filled with hope.

"Really, Jiji?"

The hokage responded with a nod and a small smile while inwardly cringing at the loss of weight his wallet was about to experience.

Overcome with happiness, the six-year-old took Sarutobi's hand and started dragging him towards their favourite ramen bar.

However, underneath that cheerful exterior, Naruto was debating telling his Jiji about his dream, he didn't want to say anything that could cause his most precious person to hate him so he decided to keep it a secret for now.

All thoughts of the creature were quickly forgotten as soon as they arrived at Ichiraku.

Back behind the gate, the creature's second eye crimson opened and its owner began chuckling and in its deep voice, it said:

" **Well isn't this an interesting development, I can't wait for what this will bring!"**


End file.
